Want to understand how dominant tech companies have become? Look at the number of issues they lobby on.

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A Washington Post analysis shows just how broad tech companies’ interests have become in the nation’s capital.

According to corporate disclosures that were submitted to the Senate Office of Public Records and screened by the Center for Responsive Politics, some of these tech giants are regularly setting records in their spending on lobbying and are pushing as many as 100 issues — or more — every year. The proliferation of issues in Silicon Valley's lobbying portfolio helps illustrate the industry's growing influence on everyday consumer life. Most analyses of corporate lobbying focus on spending. And it’s true that Silicon Valley has devoted ever-increasing amounts of money to lobbying over the past decade. But as many longtime Washington hands can attest, lobbying involves much more than simply throwing money at a problem, which is why analyzing the range of issues a company lobbies on can be just as informative. It provides an indication of a company’s policy priorities, and evidence of how a company’s strategy is evolving over time. Lobbying shifts paint the portrait of an industry that’s evolved from its early days of providing new and relatively self-contained services into enormous, market-dominating behemoths that touch almost every aspect of our modern existence.


Want to understand how dominant tech companies have become? Look at the number of issues they lobby on.